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Tuesday 18 October 2016

The all-consuming write

Busy at it. Detailed notes in my spiral bound book.
All the talk is about NaNoWriMo. I have to say I've been tempted to join in this year but last week I started something new and am already almost at the 20,000 word mark! Yes, the writing has been obsessive.

I didn't intend to start another novel, especially when I've still not finished the last! On the train back from Winchester last Monday, watching the lovely trees and the sunshine a 'what if' moment came into my head. It is far from the beauty of the countryside and very different from anything I've written before. I feel it working on me when I'm writing. It's there in my head when I'm not working on it and it flicks through my dreams.

I began with only two names and no notes and was several chapters in (they are short chapters) before I decided I needed to do some chapter plotting - something I hardly ever do! So I sat and wrote outlines for about half the book - no further because I know I will change things! So far this is working well. I will need to do some research at some point but I will do it when I have to. I don't want to stop the flow. I feel I need to write this one and get it done. Maybe this is because of the content. I find it changes my mood and I even have a special music mix (you know me and my music mixes for writing!) which itself has become an obsession. It's on replay when I write. I need it because it creates the right atmosphere. Even the music haunts me when I'm not at my laptop and I find I'm humming bits of it.

I'm in need of a break away from this all consuming write. I'm averaging around 2,000 words a day and I get twitchy if it's getting late and I haven't written anything. I really need a day out. So I'm planning of getting up to London later in the week.

I am very unsure about what I'm writing for all sorts of reasons, but I read a great line from an article in Writing Magazine (by Steven Chapman - Does it have to be a box?) - Don't edit to satisfy your inner chicken. That's what I've been trying to avoid with this. I've even told myself that I can write it for me, that I don't have to try and get it published. Who am I trying to fool?

I have no idea where this novel will end up, not just whether it stays on my laptop, but where the story ends up. I've not worked that out yet. The whole thing is developing along with it's characters as I go. Unlike most of my other work there is very little humour in it. It's dark, suffocating and I'm trying my best to convey that in the atmosphere I'm building with it.

Just as I'd decided humour was going to be my genre for writing along comes this. Still, I've never been one to fit a mould.

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